Thursday, July 31, 2014

MathDisk is an innovative new site/app (Android/iOS) that can be used for many different aspects of Math (i.e. Algebra, Geometry, graphing calculator, Calculus, and more). The this works is by creating worksheets on the easy to use graphic designer that resembles a draw program w/ lots of tools. However, it's even easier to use on a mobile device w/ a touch screen interface. A finished project can then be embedded into a site or blog and shared w/ others via email or social networks.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

SpellingCity w/out a doubt is my favorite site for Spelling and Vocabulary. This is a great site w/ educational portal that allows educators to create word lists that can be incorporated into educational games. These games are not only fun but highly engaging and help students learn their "words". Also, an educator can track students, find an abundance of resources/videos, and even use it for mobile learning w/ a free mobile app (iOS/Android).

ForAllRubrics is a wonderful site/app (iOS/Android) for educators looking to create rubrics and even badges for their class. This site interacts seamless w/ their free mobile app as well as lets educators create/manage student accounts while creating rubrics that are aligned to Common Core Standards. Also, educators can browse through existing rubrics created by other users assess students and generate detailed reports.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

GoClass is a fantastic learning tool for the mobile classroom. This is a free site/web app that allows educators to conduct lessons on student's mobile devices (iOS/Android), track their learning and progress, and so much more. The way this works is an educator creates an account through the GoClass web portal and then starts creating their multimedia digital lessons that get shared w/ students when they join a session. Best of all, GoClass records all lessons that are being conducted and educators can assess students in real-time to differentiate instruction as well share an interactive whiteboard for learning.

iPracticeMath is a wonderful all-in-one site for al things Math related w/ an educational portal. A educator/student can find problem walk-throughs, definitions, worksheets, games, and more. Also, the educational portal allows students to track student progress as they work through online Math activities, as well as generate detail reports. The topics covered range anywhere from basic Math skills to more advanced categories such as Algebra and Calculous.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Answerables is one of the most unique sites to come around in awhile. It is a cross between a Learning Management System and Game Based Learning environment to deliver a innovative and fun learning experience for students. All of this takes place in a 3D virtual world (i.e. think Second Life but geared towards education) that allows educators to create lessons, scavenger hunts, collaborate w/ other educators, and much much more. Best of all, all of this takes place in Answerables safe interactive environment. Also, Answerables can be used by any curriculum to teach any subject using Project Based Learning, "gamifying"a lesson, and differentiating instruction.

Edshelf is one of the most popular curating tools on the web for educators. Also, it is in dire need of your help to keep it going. Recently, Mike Lee the CEO launched a kickstarter campaign to save his wonderful website and I wanted to pass that info along.

Door 24 is one of my favorite free iPad apps for Math. This is a super fun game that has students trying to fix a robot's circuits while solving the mystery behind Door 24. This game focuses on Math for grades 4th-8th aligned to Common Core Standards and has students working on computational fluency, number sense, and algebraic thinking.

Elevated Math is an excellent free iOS app for finding animated Math lessons on a wide variety of topics. These lessons are aligned to Common Core Standard and focus on grades 4th-8th. Also, a user can purchase other apps or lessons that allow students/teachers to print out worksheets, notes, tests, and more. Best of all there, is a built in whiteboard that allows users to work out problems while watching the videos.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Tangram Chess is one of the coolest iOS apps for Math to come around in a long time. This game uses translations, rotations, and reflections, to move shapes across a chess board. As w/ all Math File Folder games, it can be played on multiple devices via bluetooth, generate and email detailed reports to teachers/parents, and are multi-player. This is an ideal app for Game Based Learning, centers, and much much more.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Level it Books is the popular educational app (Android/iOS) for scanning a book's ISBN and getting a Reading Lexile/Level. It's being used by educators, parents, and librarians around the world to keep a virtual library of books, manage students Reading Levels, and more. Also, a teacher can use it not only to create class rosters and book libraries, but a "book of the day" as well.

Sight Words Space is a (free today) iPad app designed for KDG/1st graders learning how to read and working on Science vocabulary words. The app is an interactive workbook that has students tracing words, listening to words, and playing fun interactive activities to help reinforce reading and word recognition. Also, students will be learning about Space, counting stars, and more.

Friday, July 25, 2014

DimensionU is one of my favorite companies for Game Based Learning. These games take place in an interactive 3D virtual world where students strengthen their Math & Literacy skills. The games are designed for kids grades 3rd-9th and are aligned to Common Core Standards.

Here are a list of DimensionU games...

Watch the videos below to see all 4 AMAZINGDimensionU Games in action:

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Otus the wonderful mobile learning environment available for students and teachers for the iPad, is now available to be used via the web on any browser based device (i.e. Chromebooks). This is the perfect learning tool for the 1:1 environment and gives teachers an all-in-one place to manage, assign, and assess their students. As w/ any Learning Management System educators can take attendance, grade work, poll, and much much more. Best of all, Otus integrates w/ Google Drive and has lots of video tutorials on how to implement Otus into the classroom.

Marvel Origins is a excellent free new iOS app that combines Game Based Learning w/ interactive stories to help develop student Reading skills. The way this works is a person reads along w/ the story (narrated by Stan Lee) as they play interactive games, unlock other stories (i.e. Hulk, Spiderman, etc.) and collect items. This app has high replay value and should help enhance students love of learning reading their favorite comic book heroes.

The news has been making its away around the internet as the wonderful behavior management/positive reinforcement site/app ClassDojo, has announced that it is now school-wide. What does this mean? It means that educators will be able to connect w/ other teachers in their school so that they can teach together. Also, it means that they will be able to share student rosters, track students behavior/progress, and more, across their mutual classes. This is great for collaborative teaching or for those teachers that are new to using ClassDojo and can have a "mentor" help them out.

For more information on ClassDojo's latest school-wide feature click here.

Book Writer is a fantastic iOS app for digital storytelling that lets users create interactive digital books, PDFs, and more. Educators are using this to Flip their classroom, create tutorials, photo books, presentations, and Project Based Learning. It's a simple app to use that has a drag-n-drop interface and lets users upload images, videos, audio, text, etc.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Booktrack Classroom is a innovative tool for education that allows educators and students to add layers of sound effects/tracks/music to text. A simple way to put it is a soundtrack for books, but it is so much more. It is a great way to generate students creativity as well as liven up their writing and increase comprehension. It is all done through a simple to use web interface as well as a free mobile app (iOS/Android). Also, Booktrack Classroom has a wonderful list of free lesson plans aligned to Common Core Standards that can be viewed by clicking here.

I highly recommend checking out Booktrack Classroom by clicking here!!!

30hands Pro is the new paid iOS app from 30hands Learning. This is a great purchase as it unlocks all the features in the free 30hands app such as: importing video clips, Dropbox/Google Drive integration, and Hi-Res video exporting.

30hands is the amazingly simple to use app w/ drag-n-drop interface that allows users to sync up photos w/ audio recordings to create stunning presentations. This can be used for digital storytelling, Blended Learning, Project Based Learning, or even to "Flip" a lesson. Also, the exporting features allows the video to be saved to the mobile device's camera roll or uploaded to the free 30hand online educational community.

Clarisketch is a new (beta) free Android app that I had the pleasure of learning about from Richard Byrne's amazing blog. This is a simple app to use that allows a user to upload/take a photo and then edit it by drawing on it (similar to the iPad app Explain Everything). Best of all, a user can then record their own voice to create their own narrations, tutorials, or even be used for digital storytelling.

WordWriter is a fantastic new learning tool brought to you by the award winning Web 2.0 Collaborative Writing site, BoomWriter. WordWriter is a amazingly simple tool to use that uses BoomWriter's innovative collaborative process to help students learn, develop, and enhance their writing/reading and vocabulary skills.

The way this works is a teacher signs in (using the free BoomWriter portal for creating/managing student accounts) and selects the WordWriter tab. The educator then creates a WW project and selects which students to assign the project to. After that, a word bank is developed (batch upload feature still to come) by typing in a word that a teacher wants to reinforce and develop for those students. From there, teachers can type instructions to help guide students on their learning. Students then login and using the very friendly user-interface create short stories or sentences that best use those words.

That's it!!

The innovative BoomWriter technology highlights the words used so a student doesn't have to keep track of the ones they use. Also, teachers through the educational portal can assess students and see which projects are waiting to be approved or revised w/ the ability to leave comments.

Finally, students through using assigned vocab words and completing the assignment as well as through BoomWriter's collaborative voting process can earn "Boomer Bucks" to modify their avatar/Boomer. This makes it highly motivating for students as they can develop their character and track how many times their projects have been voted on.

WordWriter is an ideal tool for helping w/ vocabulary, developing reading and writing skills, as well as easy to integrate into any subject or curriculum.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Geo w/ Amigos is the new free iOS game by the wonderful company Yogome who are famous for their educational mobile games. Geo w/ Amigos is a super fun multi-player game that has students learning Geography by answering questions and doing battle w/ different enemies. Best of all is the high replay value as users are able to earn rewards and points to unlock more boards and items to customize their Yogotar. There are over 400 Geography questions in 5 battle arenas in areas such as: solar system, earth, capitals, and more. Finally, a educator can track how their student is doing as it records their progress w/ detailed reporting.

Buncee is one of my all-time favorite Web 2.0 tools for school. This is a fantastic simple to use site (w/ a drag-n-drop interface) for creating stunning presentations, projects, animations, eCards, and more. Best of all, is the educational portal which allows educators to create and manage student accounts, while assessing their work in real-time. Teachers around the world are using this for Project Based Learning, Blended Learning, and even Flipping a Lesson. There is even a free iOS app for those that want to create Buncees on the go.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Flashcard Monkey lets students who are taking the SAT and GRE tests to memorize vocabulary using pictures. Before, students would spend hours pouring over boring word lists. With Flashcard Monkey, students can memorize with visual cues. The cartoons stimulate visual learning and higher retention rate.

You can use the website to look at 507 most common SAT words for free. 800 GRE vocabulary pictures will be put up by september 2014.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

SquirrelThat is a free iPad app that is excellent for note taking. This is a great tool that students can use when researching a project or taking notes during a lecture. Best of all, it's simple to use and lets students share their notes w/ others. Also, the abundance of features for makes SquirrelThat a nice learning tool as students can annotate on their notes, draw, add media, and more.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Writer to Read is an amazing iPad app designed for kids 3-10 yrs to help w/ their Reading & Writing skills by creating a book. W/ that in mind it also makes it an ideal app for introducing digital storytelling to students that is aligned to Common Core Standards. The way this works is a child/student write's a sentence to the best of their ability and then an adult/teacher translates the sentence into proper text. This helps students learn visually as they see their sentenc
e next to the correct one while learning to read, write, and spell. Another nice feature is the unique keyboard that separates consonants and vowels by color and being able to record audio to help further their learning.

Monday, July 14, 2014

News-O-Matic is a fantastic new free iOS app that I just found out about through a promotional email. This is an app designed for kids 7-11 yrs old to bring them 5 daily news stories containing articles, videos, and photos. These stories are on a number of different subjects such as: sports, science, world news, and more. Also, these stories are aligned to 3rd/4th grade Common Core Standards, has a variety of fun activities for students to complete, as well as full audio support for challenged readers. Best of all, there is a free daily teacher guide which helps educators assess students learning and comprehension of the articles.

thesaurus.land is a interesting new site that lets a person type in a word and then generate a list of synonyms for that word. By clicking on the words generate will list a bunch of synonyms for that, and on and on.

Care Bears Love to Learn is a free iPad app I downloaded the other day for my 3 yr old girl. This is a fun app that has young kids engaging in educational activities such as: matching, puzzles, shapes, counting, and more. Also, it has high replay value as the farther along one plays the more Care Bear stickers a person unlocks. It's a simple and fun game that should provide hours of play for young learners.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Write-On Video is an excellent iPad app for digital storytelling. This is a simple to use app that allows users to upload a video and then annotate, draw, or add pictures/stmaps over it. Best of all, it integrates w/ Evernote and allows users to even create a slideshow or storyboard of their videos, photos, or annotations. This is a great way for educators to Flip a Classroom, create a tutorial, and much much more.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Schoolfy is a new (beta) free site for finding, creating, and sharing lesson plans. The lesson plans can contain any information from the internet, your computer, or mobile device. Best of all are the assessment features which lets teachers create assignments/quizzes and then grade them in real-time. Also, there are lot of features that allow educators to set permissions for public/private viewing and more.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

EDpuzzle the amazingly simple site for Flipping a Classroom/Lesson just released a sleeker new design w/ new tools to make it even easier to create an engaging interactive video.

What is EDpuzzle? EDpuzzle is a free learning tool for educators being used in classrooms around the world to take a video and "make it their own" by editing a video, adding narration, and even adding questions/poll/quiz. W/ the educational portals students can join a class via a unique code (i.e. ClassDojo). This portal allows educators to create a video, assign them to students/classes, and even assess them. This is great for Differentiating Instruction, Project Based Learning, and Flipping a Classroom. Not only that, but teachers can see the progress of each video assignment and set permissions (Block Seeking Ahead) on wether the video can be skipped through or not.

Made from History is a excellent site for History/Social Study teachers looking for an abundance of resources for WWI, WWII, Civil Rights, and more. These resources come in the forms of articles, links, timelines, etc and can shared w/ others or even pinned to a board in Pinterest.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Blackboard Madness: Math is an excellent free iOS game suitable for all ages. This is a fast paced action packed game that reminds me of the ultra-popular "slicing fruit" games but instead of slicing objects you are using your finger to swipe the correct answers to the Math problems. What makes Blackboard Madness so great, are combos that a player can rack up as well as unlock achievements and bonus levels.

Coursekicker is a new free site for finding and posting educational resources. The site reminds me of a 19 Pencils w/ a more "older/secondary" look. This is a great place for educators to curate resources such as sites, lesson plans, and more. Also, it lets educators upload their own materials and save/bookmark their favorite finds. Best of all, is the nice feature which lets users rate material which shows what's hot or trending.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Plickers is a new Student Response System that I just found out about from Richard Byrne's award winning blog. The way this works is students are given a unique QR code, the teacher asks the questions, and the student answers by showing the QR code to the teacher's smart phone. Simple, easy, and all the educator needs is to download the free mobile app (iOS/Android) to assess students and get instant real-time results in a bar graph.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

VocabMonk is an interesting new site that I found out about from Larry Ferlazzo's excellent blog. This site uses a social network approach to help users build their vocabulary. The networking aspect makes it a great site for Social Learning, as well as being able to search forums, challenge others, and more. Also, this is a nice place to create a virtual "class" to help students learn via a easy to use word search engine.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

I love supporting Kickstarter campaigns for education as much as I can. While I might not be able to supply any funds, I sure love blogging about it to help spread the word and see all the cool ideas out there. The latest Kickstarter I became aware of is called, Wonderblox. This is an innovative app that uses regular wooden blocks to spell out words on the iPad by placing them in the correct spot. The way this works is through the iPad attachment that reflects the iPad camera so it can see what's being placed on it's screen. This can be a great way to combine the physical world of "play" into that of technology as well as increase a child's love of learning.

I highly recommend checking out the campaign and video by clicking here!!!

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David Kapuler

I have been working w/ technology and education for over 14 years in a school setting. I'm looking for work in a K-12 environment as a Technology Integration/Support Specialist in WI/IL. Contact email - dkapuler@gmail.com
I'm currently looking to get my Mac OS/Repair Certification, as well as a Masters in Technology Integration.
Also, I have a solid background in web design, w/ network/server support.
On a personal note, I';m a proud father of 3 boys and 1 girl, and have been married for 10 years.